TradingwithCody Chief Guide Elad Ryba on: The future of entertainment
Bruce: [reciting] I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food.
“Who wants to see Saving Nemo 2 in 3D?”
I imagine saying that to my kids in 2015 when the sequel of this immensely popular movie is set for release. My kids would get all excited as they have been seeing promos for it on TV and online for weeks and they loved the 2003 original movie. They would run to get dressed; moments later as they get to the front door I would tell them to come onto the couch and watch it here at home on our big screen. They would look perplexed. How can we watch at home? We’re going to be late Dad! We want to get good seats! We need to find parking!
This scene will be replicated around the country and the world before we know it. With the proliferation of slim 3D smart HD TV’s and their ever decreasing prices and elevated screen sizes, many families will have a 52”, 65”, 75” or larger smart 3D TV in their home. DTH- Direct to Home movies is in the works. With so many movies competing for opening weekend dollars, it only makes sense to release your movie to the largest audience worldwide. To recoup the movies expenses and see profits on the first few days vs. the many weeks of box office sales trickling in with fierce competition is a smarter way to go. It only makes sense to release a new 3D movie or standard 2D to the most homes possible on the 1st few days and see your box office numbers; not to mention partially eliminating pirating. If you lower the cost per family, they may consume more data. They could watch a few new releases over a shorter period of time vs. 1 movie outing every month or so because the savings add up as you will see.
House of Cards, the Netflix original smash hit premiered the entire first season all 13 episodes all on February 1, 2013. That’s right, why wait 13 weeks or longer to see all 13 episodes? People now “binge watch” where they can download and view an entire season in one continuous session. Sir Anthony Hopkins does it. Here is an excerpt from his e-mail letter to Bryan Cranston aka “Walter White” the lead character from the smash hit “Breaking Bad”:
Dear Mister Cranston,
I wanted to write you this email – so I am contacting you through Jeremy Barber – I take it we are both represented by UTA. Great agency.
I’ve just finished a marathon of watching “BREAKING BAD” – from episode one of the First Season – to the last eight episodes of the Sixth Season. (I downloaded the last season on AMAZON) A total of two weeks (addictive) viewing. Your performance as Walter White was the best acting I have seen – ever. That may sound like a good lung full of smoke blowing. But it is not. It’s almost midnight out here in Malibu, and I felt compelled to write this email.
Congratulations and my deepest respect. You are truly a great, great actor.
Best regards,
Tony Hopkins
Netflix saw this form of viewing from their users viewing habits so they gave their subscribers what they wanted: all 13 episodes released at once. Viewers could be see one show after the other, right now, it was an industry first and won’t be the last and may even become the norm. A second season of 13 episodes is currently in production. On July 18, 2013, Netflix earned the first Primetime Emmy Award nominations for original online only web television for the Awards in 2013. House of Cards received nine of Netflix’s fourteen total nominations. Among those nine nominations were Outstanding Drama Series for the first season of House of Cards.
With the proliferation of Hi speed internet to the home such as Verizon Fios or other super-fast internet services, more and more homes are getting wired up for multiple devices streaming data at the same time. Capacity is averaging near 50 Meg download speeds for many. With multiple devices in one home, iPads, iPhone, TV’s, home appliances all talking to the network. The data capacity needed from a single home is ever expanding, growing exponentially and is needed to prevent the system from slowing as more and more demand is expected from it at lightning fast speed. HD is a data hog and Cien, Csco, Jnpr have all reported a surge in demand from Telco’s. FB usage or data alone is growing leaps and bounds. Huge data centers from FB, AAPL, GOOG, and Amazon are popping up or on the drawing boards to supply online storage of data to be called up in seconds from users anywhere, anytime, around the world on Wi-Fi or 4G / LTE. We want all of our data when we want it, where we want it, whenever we want it 24/7. Instant gratification is here to stay. It’s become expected, even demanded and no one wants to wait for buffering, slow connections and the like which makes the companies above all long term buys.
I recently bought a 40” Slim 3D Smart Samsung LED TV to replace a 2D Sharp HDTV to do research on for this article. The difference is amazing. If I were only speaking about the image quality that’s one thing. I am talking about the ability of this smart TV to access my Amazon prime account, Apple TV account, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube sites and so much more. It dawned on me: soon we won’t need network television. We won’t need Cablevision, Xfinity, DIRECTV, Dish and their 100-200 monthly bills. You can pay to have just what you want it’s called Al carte. You can have Netflix for $7 a month, Amazon prime for less than $7 a month ( plus the prime service where items are shipped 2nd day air), throw in Hulu, add 5 -10 Apple TV networks of your choosing from HBO, ShowTime, Starz, ABC etc. For 70 dollars a months you can have all the desired stations you actually like, watch and tune into vs. the hundreds you now get from your cable or satellite carrier of which you only watch a small percentage. That large monthly bill is all wasted on programming you seriously NEVER watch.
The Samsung smart TV we bought accessed so much data we did not know where to start. What to watch first? You could lose yourself in all there is and still never go to The major networks channels ABC, NBC and feel you’re missing out. This must really put the fear into these major companies and their future.
Speaking of the future, have you been to the opening weekend of a movie these days? Ever try to find parking? Street parking? The theatres own parking? Any parking! It’s a nightmare. Want a good seat? You need to be there a minimum of 45 minutes to 1 hour before just to get one, forget about actually buying a ticket. For that you have to go and buy online just to know if seats are available for the particular time you want to see the movie. Unless you dare show up at a movie theatre and stand in line to only then find out the movie you want is sold out and not just for the upcoming start time but for the whole day. Talk about a waste of time and a deflating feeling.
Once you get in to the theatre and get your seat in your desired location the concession stand is next. Large popcorn $15 bucks, Drinks for 4 is $10 bucks, 2 boxes of sweets $10 bucks (these prices are if you are sharing vs. each person getting their own, tack on 50% more if each one gets his own.) So for an average family of 4 to see a 3D movie on the opening weekend in NYC metro area it’s a minimum of $15 per person per ticket. We are at $60 bucks so far. Add in food and refreshments and we’re at $95 dollars people for one 90 minute movie.
Once the movie begins, people are on their cellphones, even if in silent mode 4-6” screens light up the theatre like a flare as in a dark room you tend to notice bright large screens anytime they are in use. Want a nice quiet theatre? You can forget about that. People bring 1-2 year olds into a theatre who cry and whine. You not only hear the baby whose at no fault here but you hear their parents who should never have brought them to the theatre shushing the kids, because the parents wanted to see cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 in 3D and not be “LEFT AT HOME” while the other family members go to the movie without them yet again. So you are lucky if the theatre is quiet. Next is the kids in your row or below you who have to go to the restroom one at a time every 15 min and you have to stand up to let them pass as they began drinking that 64 ounce slushy 30 min prior to the movie start time because they HAD to be there early to get a good seat. Behind you the kid has had 1 box of sugar sweets consumed already and starts fidgeting and kicking your chair as the sugar rush kicks in and he cannot sit still and thus kick your chair every few min as they adjust themselves in the seat. These are other people’s kids. Now your kids have to head to the bathroom just as the movies most climatic part is about to unfold because your kid HELD it in to avoid missing the first 45 min of the movie (mind you they have been sipping that big gulp 30 min before as well as we had to find good seats so we came early as well) and you have to take him this instant before his kidneys explode as you exit stage left.
The alternative is DTH on the day the movie is released. You pay a premium let’s call it $30-$50 dollars to watch from the comfort of your own home. It may sound like a lot but the alternative is ticket prices alone costs your family of 4 $60. Add in drive time, frustration free parking, seat assignment, quiet theatre, fully reclined seats on your couch on and on and on.
Your 75” 3D TV is powered up. You settle into your couch and connect to Amazon prime or Netflix. One of these 2 is sure to be in the lead to have the most subscribers and pay premiums to the movie studio to carry the movie on the opening weekend. Heck they could each take turns. Amazon prime the 1st 7 days and Netflix the next 7 days. This way users who enjoy Amazon for instance don’t need to sign up with Netflix to see 1st release of certain movies when announced who will carry it first and for how long in addition to perhaps movie theatres.
No crying babies in your home. Bathroom break? No problem. You can pause the movie. Emergency? No problem, you get to watch the movie for a full 24-48 hours. You want popcorn? No problem. Go to the oven or microwave and pop some up for 50 cents a tub and share any flavor, light butter, full butter, kettle corn, go splurge. Want some fruit instead of snacks, go right ahead prep it ahead of time to be within arm’s reach. No driving to the theatre, no looking for parking, no hassle to find tickets for the time you want to go available, no standing in line then mad rush when the theatre doors open to find your favorite or ideal seat location. No cell phone interruption, no wireless screen lighting up from others distracting you, no whining babies or parents. Instead you get a peaceful tranquil 90 min sequel of Finding Nemo 2 from the comfort and tranquility of your living room; all coming soon to a home theatre near you.
